Quintessence: To Destroy Life
by finalfantasyt
Summary: Nergal returns with a trick up his sleeve. Using the power of quintessence, he can resurrect the dead. He also seems to posess mind control. Can the lords fight their friend?


**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem.**

I have decided to write a Fire Emblem fic because I like Fire Emblem. Hopefully, I will not neglect about this fic like I did my last.

_Pherae Castle_

Eliwood proceeded to the throne. _My first day as marquess..._he thought. _Hector too..._he realized. _His poor brother, dying so soon..._

"Milord?" interrupted Marcus.

"Yes, Marcus?" replied Eliwood.

"There is someone here to see you about a destroyed village...he requests funds to rebuild it."

"Yes, I'll see him. Bring him in..." said Eliwood. _This is life now...I'll just have to get used to it,_ thought Eliwood. He put on a hopeful smile, and began the meeting.

_West of Pherae_

_Where shall I travel next?_ Wondered the tactician, Tom. _I may have helped Eliwood, Hector and Lyn, but I can always improve..._ he thought.

Suddenly, an image of Nergal was before him. "What?!" he exclaimed. "Aureola destroyed you..." he said, taking a step backward.

"Destroyed...?" hissed the image. "I cannot lose...my quintessence will resurrect me."

Tom stood his ground. "I you wish to kill me...do it. I have served my purpose," said the tactician. The image became solid.

"Kill you?" cackled Nergal. "I will do nothing of the sort. I have bigger plans for you. You will lead my troops...and kill you friends," he sneered.

"You have no troops left...and I would die before working for you," stated the tactician, wishing he had a weapon.

"Heh heh heh...who said you had a choice in the matter?" chortled Nergal.

Tom's eyes widened as he realized what Nergal meant. He tried to dodge, but it was too late. A sphere of black magic enveloped him, and shattered his mind.

"No..." he managed to say. Then his soul was drained, and he became Nergal's puppet...

_Two years later, somewhere near Laus_

20 year old Eliwood was riding through Laus. He was on his way to a reunion with Hector and Lyn, to catch up on what had happened in the last two years.

"That must be the castle," he said, spotting a huge castle in the distance.

"Yes, it is, milord," confirmed Marcus. They rode their horses in silence until they reached the castle. It was around noon; the sun was directly above them. Eliwood leapt off his horse, exuberant to see his friends again. As he entered the castle, he noticed Hector and Lyn arguing.

"That's not possible!" yelled Hector. "Morphs can't exist without Nergal!"

"How do you know Nergal is gone?" asked Lyn.

"How do I know he's gone?! Because we killed him!" replied Hector. "I remember Aureola's light penetrating his body as if it were yesterday!"

"Hello," cut in Eliwood. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"Lyn thinks she was attacked by a morph on the way here!" explained Hector.

"I don't _think_ it, I _know_ it. Glowing gold eyes. Blood red lips. Ebony black hair. It was a morph," announced Lyn.

"Let's talk this over inside," suggested Eliwood. The lords walked into the room and greeted their friends. Lyn had traveled with Kent and Sain, Hector with Oswin, and Eliwood had come with Marcus (obviously). Once everyone had settled down, Eliwood spoke.

"It has been two years, my friends," Eliwood began, but was cut off by a large bolt of lightning striking the ground near his feet.

"Told you," said Lyn to Hector, grimacing.

"A bolting spell...but who cast it?" muttered Eliwood.

"Let's get out of here. It is not safe," ordered Oswin, picking up his lance.

The others drew their weapons and proceeded to the entrance of the castle.

"Just as I feared..." said Marcus, solemnly. The castle was surrounded by morphs. All kinds of classes were there: swordmasters, heroes, druids, sages, bishops, valkyries warriors, paladins, generals, nomadic troopers, snipers, falcoknights and wyvern lords. There was even a beserker and an assassin (A/N: Notice how in the game, the only enemy assassins and beserkers are bosses). The lords were hopelessly outnumbered.

"We're not going down without a fight!" Hector, lifting his axe.

"A chance to prove myself for Lady Lyndis!" said Sain, smiling. Kent kicked him.

"This is not the time to be showing off!" reprimanded Kent, smashing his axe into the skull of a nearby general.

"Yes, _mother_," replied Sain, rolling his eyes, and using his sword to decapitate a warrior.

Eliwood started giving orders on protecting the castle, but Lyn wasn't listening.

_I remember something Tom once said...about the pattern of an enemy's movement._ She scanned the battlefield. _There!_ She thought.

"Eliwood, the enemy is coming from that direction!" she said, pointing.

"You sure?" called Hector, cutting open a falcoknight. He was soaked in the knight's blood. "Damnit!" he yelled.

"Positive," replied Lyn, shooting down a wyvern lord with her bow, but avoiding the blood.

"Then let's go!" said Eliwood, mowing down a druid.

"Oswin! You and the others guard the castle! We'll take the leader!" commanded Hector. The three lords ran down the field, fighting for their lives. Near a fortress at the end of the field, they were ambushed by four snipers, two sages, two bishops and four swordmasters.

_I've seen this trap before..._thought Eliwood.

_This trap was used by Tom..._thought Lyn.

_Crap! T_oo _many enemies!_ Thought Hector.

Lyn shot the snipers with her bow, but they dodged. They tried to shoot her, but they missed too. Eliwood and Hector were having similiar luck. The swordmasters were too fast to be hit, but Eliwood was also fast, and Hector had such thick armor, he didn't care whether he was hit or not. The lords noticed that if they could get past a certain sniper, they could make it to the fortress. "Let's use the fake shot!" called Lyn.

"It's worth a try," agreed Eliwood.

"Let's go!" yelled Hector, wiping blood out of his eyes. Lyn shot an arrow at the sniper. He saw that Hector and his axe were to the right, so he jumped left, and impaled himself on Eliwood's lance.

"Let's get out of here while we can!" said Lyn, and ran past the fallen sniper. Eliwood and Hector followed.

The trio walked inside the fortress. "Hello?" called Eliwood.

"Come out and fight!" demanded Hector.

"Wait a minute...if there's no enemy here...that means...oh no..." said Lyn. "We've got to get back!" she cried. "The leader drew us here to launch a surprise attack on the castle!"

Remembering that Tom had used this tactic a few times, Eliwood and Hector realized that Lyn was right.

"She's right..." whispered Eliwood in horror. "To the castle! Make Haste!" The trio of lords quickly made their way back to the castle.

_Back at the castle..._

The cloaked figure drew his sword out of Marcus' stomach. He walked on, and sat down on the throne.

"But why....what drove you to do this....why did you betray us....Tom?" asked Marcus, with his last breath.

"..." replied the cloaked figure, and watched as Marcus died.

Shortly thereafter, the lords arrived at the castle. "Did you fell their commander?" questioned Kent, clutching a wound on his leg.

"No, but we think he came here. Are all of you alright?" asked Eliwood.

"Yes...but where's Marcus?" said Oswin.

"He was guarding the back gate," said Sain. The usually cheerful knight was glum. "Do you think...?"

"No time to waste!" said Hector, and began to run toward the gate.

"Come on," said Lyn, and followed Hector.

"Marcus..."said Eliwood. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began to ride to the back gate.

Eliwood made it to the back gate, and stopped. Hector and Lyn were standing there, looking at something on the floor.

"What is it?" inquired Eliwood.

"It's Marcus...he's...dead," replied Hector slowly.

Lyn spotted the cloaked figure. "You did this..." she said. She ran and jumped at the figure. "You will pay!" she screamed, and slashed at the figure. He simply smiled, and blasted her backward with Elfire. However, his hood was blown off in the process. Lyn landed on the ground, and looked up.

"Tom...?" she asked.

Tom looked at her without emotion, and rose his sword over his head.

_To be continued..._

I love cliffhangers. If people like this, I'll update.


End file.
